Friends of Clifty Falls State Park

Friends of Clifty Falls State Park Friends of Clifty Falls State Park is a group committed to fostering community stewardship of the park.

Today five members of the Friends of Clifty Falls SP volunteer group retrieved and re-placed the large stepping stones a...
09/05/2026

Today five members of the Friends of Clifty Falls SP volunteer group retrieved and re-placed the large stepping stones across the creek near the north end of Trail 8. On days like today when the creek water is low, hikers have a relatively easy time of crossing the creek to continue their hike. The Friends of CFSP installed these stones a couple of years ago for when the water level is higher. But never underestimate the power of water. Earlier this year during DAYS of HEAVY rain, six or so of the large stones were unmoored and pushed hundreds of yards downstream. Along with Project Leader Pat (who has incredible skills maneuvering his tractor and all tools), Jim, Glen, John, and Ken were able to get the stepping stones back in place. We still have more work to do to hopefully keep the stones where we want them, but it was a good day of work.

Hopefully, part of your Labor Day weekend will be spent at Clifty Falls State Park. While you are there, stop at the Nat...
09/03/2026

Hopefully, part of your Labor Day weekend will be spent at Clifty Falls State Park. While you are there, stop at the Nature Center, Campground Store, or Office and pick up a copy ($5) of the Friends of Clifty’s booklet “Trails of Clifty Falls State Park.” It has maps of the trails and descriptions of what you can see on the trail. When you hit the trails, remember to stay on the trails!

Save the dates for our fall fundraiser Hay RidesWe will be sponsoring hayrides through the park again this year! They wi...
09/01/2026

Save the dates for our fall fundraiser Hay Rides

We will be sponsoring hayrides through the park again this year! They will be on two different weekends, Oct. 16-17 and 23-24 from 5 and 7 p.m - starting at the pool. The cost is $5 per person, cash only. Kids 3 and under are free. No pets please. You can learn more about what we do by visiting friendsofclifty.org.

A new Story Walk (R) book is up - called “The Leaf Thief”. The Friends with our Jefferson County library co-conspirators...
08/28/2026

A new Story Walk (R) book is up - called “The Leaf Thief”. The Friends with our Jefferson County library co-conspirators got the job done! Cathy is our project lead.

The easy pathway starts on the loop road behind the playground at Clifty Shelter at the north end. Give it a read - and enjoy the autumn when it finally gets here!

There is a lot see along the trails in Clifty Falls - both natural history and some cultural history. Between the road f...
08/26/2026

There is a lot see along the trails in Clifty Falls - both natural history and some cultural history. Between the road from Poplar Grove, the Nature Center and the top of Trail 1 is a triangular area that was the home to the CCC camps of the 1930s and, later, a park campground. Along the trail, you may see some artifacts of those two eras.

A recent trek along this route by Friend's member Ken revealed some old bricks arranged in a semicircular pattern. Not sure what it was - maybe edging for a planter?

Watch out for these kinds of things as you hike and if see something different or unusual, take a photo and report it and the location to the Nature Center of Park office. Please, do not remove or handle what you find - it's better left as is for a formal examination.

By the way, you can learn about all the trails and what can be seen on them at https://www.friendsofclifty.org/the-trails. It is a good source of information.

PLUS - we hope to soon have a trail booklet available for purchase at the Nature Center!

Took a short saunter on Trail 5 from Tunnel Falls to past the south entrance of Brough's tunnel (the tunnel is permanent...
08/22/2026

Took a short saunter on Trail 5 from Tunnel Falls to past the south entrance of Brough's tunnel (the tunnel is permanently closed and posted). A busy Saturday in the Park - a few groups headed down or coming back up from the creek (using the 5-2 connector) carrying the sounds of happy voices plus several hikers passing one way or the other. But as that world passed us by, we went slowly and saw and recorded some of the natural history of the Park. That's just us - plus we can't go that fast anymore :-).

Some Park visitors use the iNaturalist app to record their species observations (e-bird is used as well). The map below ...
08/21/2026

Some Park visitors use the iNaturalist app to record their species observations (e-bird is used as well). The map below shows the location of all the records.

Well, if you are curious who has been observed on iNat, you can see all the iNat observations on one place at https://www.inaturalist.org/places/219147 #/places/219147= . (No membership needed unless you want to join and add observations! The app is available for apple and android platforms.)

Look at the screenshot of that page Select any of the tabs circled in red to see the data.

At the "Species" tab - the one shown, you can select specific species to view. Click on the image to read more about that species. This is a nice overview. (Note that earthworms/leeches and centipedes/millipedes are not represented as separate groups.)

The "Observation" tab lists all individual observations as found in the park. But they are not sorted by group - that's what the sections below are for.

"Projects" now lists only one iNat project in the park - the one we started to organize the data.

"People" lists the folks who have added observations.

Lastly, our web site has a biodiversity page with this information and more at https://www.friendsofclifty.org/ecology.

Night out for the Friends - great group tour at Saddletree Factory (thanks Historic Madison, Inc.) then dinner at Mi Vie...
08/19/2026

Night out for the Friends - great group tour at Saddletree Factory (thanks Historic Madison, Inc.) then dinner at Mi Viejo.

Our invasive/trail clearing crew finished Trail 8 last week and started Trail 7 this morning. Hot sweaty work. We got as...
08/13/2026

Our invasive/trail clearing crew finished Trail 8 last week and started Trail 7 this morning. Hot sweaty work. We got as far as the footbridge over the upper end of Little Clifty Creek. Once again, we were led by our fearless leader and speedster Pat with help from the 4 “J”s - Jim, John, Jean, and Joe behind the lens.

If you want to help support our work in the Park, consider becoming a member or donating to the cause at https://www.friendsofclifty.org/be-a-friend.

08/13/2026

IMPORTANT - If you get Facebook message from us thanking you for following us and asking if there is anything we can do for you - it is NOT from us. Probably best to not reply. Not sure what is going on. I did delete the water fall post that I think started it.

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1501 Green Road
Madison, IN
47250

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